Bruce! bash and the Ruth 60's will be going to Rock n' Reno again this year and just luv the Golden Eagle Softball Complex last year even though we went 1-5. Major Plus competition is very tough at this event each and every year and is quite an team achievement to win it. Hope your FL Merchants will attend.

Hey Bruce! Yes, Pete (aka 4x4) called me from Cal pointing out my mistake. Yes I know Bob (Maddog) Butler as I met him Thursday night @Armstrong field. Steve told me I was an inspiration to the young guys like him as I can still hit balls well over the 300' barrier but only with Senior bats of course!!! LOL

The slides begin with the Washington guys leaving from Sea-Tac with a stop-over in Houston’s Bush International airport and then on to Jacksonville, FL for the event with 2 games in the New River Florida prison, hitting instruction, base-running contest, pitching clinic, DRAFT day playing a round robin 1-pitch tourney, great banquet, prized give-aways, BASS and combat products @ tremendous discounts while staying at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Jacksonville @ a low CTS rate.

Paste this link into your local web browser and then click on the link: http://www.bashbro1nwseniorsoftball.com/id211.html

Hey Donnie! Hope all is well with you and yours. The Ruth 60's schedule has been finalized as of earlier this week with Bill Ruth and his lieutenants.

The economic crunch has hit all of us as you well know as we are only making for airplane trips in 2009. Paste in the following link into your Browser address window and press Enter or the GO button to view our schedule.

By-the-by...I have a super picture of you and Fran Dowell on my home page if you scroll down.

Bash awaits in great anticipation to see how many NEW 60’s Major Plus teams will be moved up that are located in the contiguous United States that are:

1. west of the Rockies;

2. west of the M-iss-iss-ipp-i and east of the Rockies; and

3. east of the Mississippi.

4. Total USA for Major Plus is now 15 teams.

Right now I see:
1.West of the Rockies = 6

2.West of the Mississippi/east of the Rockies = 3

3.East of the Mississippi = 6

As we all know when going to a tournament that there is NOT total representation of all M+ teams and is pretty much localized to the region the tournament is being held…unless it's a major event for the most part anyway.

1. Boaz Exports/ASI Houston,TX Major-Plus Aug. 3, 2007

2. GSF San Clemente,CA Major-Plus 3-Mar-08

3. Joseph Chevrolet Maineville,OH Major-Plus 8-May-08

4. KC Bombers Stanley,KS Major-Plus Nov. 12, 2007

5. Korba Insurance Crystal,MN Major-Plus Feb. 22, 2007

6. Michael's Force 4 Crystal Lake,IL Major-Plus Oct. 30, 2008

7. Miken Raptors of Florida Naples,FL Major-Plus Jan. 28, 2008

8. MTC 60's Hayward,CA Major-Plus 5-Mar-08

9. New York Statesmen Franklin Sqr,NY Major-Plus Oct. 30, 2008

10. Old A's/Miken Walnut Creek,CA Major-Plus Nov. 9, 2007

11. Scrap Iron 60's Frederick, COMajor-Plus Jan. 21, 2008

12. Spicer Properties MD Keedysville,MD Major-Plus Oct. 30, 2008

13. Top Gun 60s San Diego,CA Major-PlusNov. 4, 2008

14. Turn Two/Haynes/Harris/Elite Wake Forest,NC Major-Plus 13-May-08

15. WE Ruth Realty Renton,WA Major-Plus Nov. 4, 2008

Bash(Ruth 60’s Major Plus Defending SSUSA World Major Division champs)

Hey Joe. Just to send you scampering back to Webster again and to increase your lexicon, how about holding a Senior Softball "plebiscite"? Or maybe just a referendum with a simple majority deciding the issue regarding the “Over-the-limit” HRs.

Hey Joe! It's your buddy bashbro1 up here in frigid Seattle 24 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. Okay, let me understand this...you're pitching and you get hit in the arm and your arm breaks...you get hit in the leg and your leg breaks...now what happens if you get hit in your neck?

From: SportsEvents Magazine spotlights industry professionals:
The sports event planners featured in this spotlight have garnered attention in the industry for their ability to recognize and rise above the various challenges of running sports events, for their innovative and creative approaches to planning and executing sports events, for their ability to inspire others, for their dedication to their jobs, and for their passion for sports—for providing opportunities for thousands of youth and adults to compete in the sports they love as well.

Fran Dowell, executive director for Senior Softball USA, plans approximately 60 tournaments a year for more than 30,000 registered players on roughly 2,000 teams. During a tournament last August, she was one of five people to respond to an emergency situation after someone at the tournament suffered a heart attack. Dowell credited the life-saving moment to the organization’s policy requiring automated external defibrillators at all playing sites. “Ten weeks later, the person who survived the heart attack was the guest of honor at the opening ceremonies for the Phoenix World Championships.”

Congratulations from Art Eversole (SSUsA Handle=bashbro1, or as you call me “Vanna”) on your recognition rightfully deserved and hard earned.

Intro:
"The sports event planners featured in this spotlight have garnered attention in the industry for their ability to recognize and rise above the various challenges of running sports events, for their innovative and creative approaches to planning and executing sports events, for their ability to inspire others, for their dedication to their jobs, and for their passion for sports—for providing opportunities for thousands of youth and adults to compete in the sports they love as well."

Comments:

Congratulations from Art Eversole (SSUSA Handle=bashbro1, or as you call me “Vanna”) on your recognition so rightfully deserved and hard earned.

Since we now have the Miken Ultra II “MAXLOAD’ model on the market to add to our Senior Softball arsenal of weapons, I thought I’d say something about a bat’s “swing weight”.

“Swing weight” can be simply defined as the relative weight of a bat barrel's leverage in relation to its handle, or in semi-technical terms, the “moment of inertia” in physics. The MOI is where the bat abides by a fundamental law of physics where there’s a strong tendency for mass to resist angular acceleration when the object is at rest or in motion for that matter. So it’s the inertia that is measured that indicates how difficult it is to change the velocity of an object by applying a force to it like your own strength to a bat. The physicist uses the terminology "moment of inertia" and is said to be determined by the length of the shaft-handle to the mass of the bat’s barrel. Although other parts of the bat make minor contributions to the effect.

If you could just for a moment, visualize an everyday object's weight as a measure of its resistance to being lifted, like picking up an anvil off the garage floor (ugh)! Then you can also think of the bat’s swing weight as a measure of a its resistance to being swung in a circle at the incoming pitch. So to get your MOI “party started”, it’s a good idea to have a waggle or pre-swing movement with your bat to help the process of overcoming the MOI of the bat’s mass as you begin your swing along the plane to the ball.

The main difference between “swing weight” and actual weight is the way in which the absolute weight is distributed along the entire length of the bat. Understand of course, that a bat’s “swing weight” is a different parameter than its overall weight or what is referred to as its “dead weight”. Swing Weight is actually more a feel of the of the bat in the batters hands or what is comfortable to them given their type of swing.

Golf swing weights are comprised of a letter followed by a number, like “D-3” for example. So the closer to the beginning of the alphabet the letter is the lighter the swing weight will be and for each letter the lower the number, from 0-9, also the lighter the swing weight as well. Baseball and Softball bat manufactures DON’T advertise swing weight but they know what it is...maybe Combat does I’ve heard, but no other manufactures that I know of.

Without getting too technical, to find the MOI value you must first find the pivot location (standard is 6” from the knob of the bat), then the weight of the bat, and lastly the location of the balance point (center-of-mass) by finding the exact balancing point of the bat using your finger or a blade like tool and then running it through a mathematical formula.

Consequently, it is very important that a hitter has successfully matched a proper swing weight to their absolute bat weight choice to maximize their swing speed. Otherwise you'll not attain your maximum potential as a hitter.

So, if you have an easy-going and graceful swing, a heavier swing weight may give you better batted-ball-speed results. Conversely, If your swing very quick or fast, then you may need a bat with less swing weight so that the bat can rotate around your pivot point as fast as your body is rotating.

Understand that a lower “swing weight” should increase your bat-swing speed but there is a trade-off with the higher MOI in making for a greater collision resulting in greater batted-ball-exit speed only if you can swing it the @ the same speed or close to it as the lower “swing weight” bat.

So, each player must experiment and find what “swing weight” results to maximum their batted-ball-speed for a particular bat and their individual swing style. Keep in mind those Dead-Ball-Outs this season when selecting a bat’s mass and “swing weight”!!!! LOL

Bashbro1 (Ruth 60’s Kent, WA in the rain and snow and nothing to do better!)

W.E. Ruth annual Christmas party filled the banquet room @ the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, WA with friends and family alike. A fabulous catered buffet was the main attraction as well as the Ruth 60's trophy displayed on the host table. Bill made a special point to recognize those players in attendance that were members of his 2008 SSUSA World championship team!

Click on the slideshow of pictures to obtain a feel for the festive ambiance from the event. A special thanks to Tom Foley as the "senior" photographer @ the extravaganza.

Paste in this link to view the slideshow=>: http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/569242559WlkEmY

Pete/2x4: You’re the tight-end? Did you play that in “Broken Back Mountain”?

Hey, bashbro1 here is your Fullback for the game for sure! Here are my credentials: 5’9” tall weighing in @ a svelte 235lbs and some of it is muscle. Just send me up the middle with or without the ball. I must avenge our Washington Huskies 0-12 mark this past season for sure. I see you in Jacksonville!

Joe. I don’t know if you were sober back then and may not remember (I know I wasn't), in the year 1986 the Wimbledon Tennis Club changed from the traditional White tennis balls to yellow balls so that they were more visible for television cameras. High Definition tv today really likes Optic-Yellow (i.e. Greenish) or better yet Chartreuse!!

So, my take on this discussion is that when Senior Softball begins getting some coverage from ESPN, we’d better have a ball that’s camera friendly and not so much defenseman friendly so we can get the exposure and money!!! LOL

Meet the Ruth 60’s from the states of Washington and Oregon.
Just paste in the link below into your browser’s URL address text box and press either the Enter key or the green GO button to bring you the web page.

How about that title for a softball movie sequel “Senior Softball” style:

Well, I’m all for having protection during the course of any senior softball ball game. How about let’s provide a ball catcher screen rooted equidistance between the pitcher’s rubber and the strike mat that captures those dangerous missiles up the middle before they do any physical harm. Rule# 3.1.4.2.6: “Any batted ball making contact with the this apparatus will be an automatic dead ball -out-“ for the batter and runners advance one base, unless the bases are loaded and then no runner is allowed to advance. A skill batter should be able to easily negotiate up and over or around this safety device. The net will be in play for any thrown balls by the defense so try and make accurate throws especially from the outfield, use a relay system.

The net shall be 6 feet high so if the pitcher hits the net it’s a ball on the batter. I would also propose a screen be placed behind the 1st base bag during the course of the game to protect the coach especially during in field warm up. I’ve seen some nasty lumps on those coaches heads from errant throws by infielders warming up between innings.

I know for a fact that some of the high school girl’s fast pitch teams in the USA and other local leagues are now requiring all of the infielders to wear protective masks. I propose that it may not be unreasonable to place protective screens in front of our 3rd and 1st baseman’s in senior softball. What’s wrong with that I may ask? So any batted ball that lodges in the nets must be “fished” out by the defenseman and then has to make the throw….Hence the title of this idiotic thread…” Build a field of screens and they will come”?

Yes, I have photos of my proposals:
Paste in this link to see my proposal photos: http://www.bashbro1nwseniorsoftball.com/id180.html

I would have to agree with Dirty on the excessive oiling up of gloves makes them so heavy you can’t lug them around the field and how quickly they break in is a sign of inferior leather for certain. I know some guys get very impatient with the breaking in of a quality fielder"s glove, but it’s worth the wait as far as longevity.

I really do like Nokano but have never owned one personally. Just had a few on my hand and felt good. Even the one that was opposite hand for me also felt good, so go figure! I use a Vinci Pro 14 ½ inch fielders glove.

Go to my web site to view them and for good deals from my local Vinci Pro rep. Understand that I get nothing for advertising on my web site other than a small discount once in a Blue Moon on price. I like a no remuneration policy and just promoting senior softball and good deals for our seniors gives me a thrill! (If that makes me philanthropic or an eleemosynary that so be it) LOL

BruceInGA!
Hello from bash up here in Seattle, WA. As a reward for our Ruth 60’s 2008 Major team winning the Major title in PHX last month we are back to Major Plus status in 2009!

You mentioned playing for the Florida Raptors 60’s in '09. Well let me tell you, even though Florida is some 48 hours 12 minutes and 3222 miles away by land from Seattle, we love our Donna & Toll Mihailoff friends! They have family up here in the Pacific NW Tacoma area.

******Warning*****
Our two fine teams could cross paths again next season and we Ruth 60’s M+ will be looking forward to the competition the Raptors bring. All of the 60’s M+ teams need to connect for staging better populated M+ tournaments.
Bash (Ruth 60’s now M+ out of Kent, WA)

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